


Higher than the Moon

by charmingStrangeness



Category: Free!, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Crushes, F/M, Feel-good, Flashbacks, Makoto Birthday Fanworks Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 15:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8583412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmingStrangeness/pseuds/charmingStrangeness
Summary: Free/Voltron Fusion AU where the Iwatobi Five are the Five Paladins of Voltron(Party favour fill for Makoto's Birthday Exchange 2016)In which a surprise attack from the Galra during a diplomatic mission to a peaceful planet leaves Allura stranded, and Makoto comes to her aid.(alt. title: "My Big Crush Is As Big As The Planet We're On And That's Saying A Lot")





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [risotto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/risotto/gifts).



> first of all, s/o to the organizers of the bday exchange for setting up party favours – i missed the signup deadline for the actual exchange so it was super awesome to still be able to participate!!
> 
> the prompt was for Makoto in a crossover ship. no fandom was specified but risotto mentioned voltron in an example and my mind immediately went to "what if the free! guys were paladins" and now here we are,
> 
> writing this was tough but also a lot of fun so i hope you all enjoy!! thank u @risotto for the inspiration :D
> 
> p.s. i have Headcanons about this AU so check out the author's notes at the end for more about the crossover i never expected to be writing ;)

He’s nervous.

“Mako-chan, sit down and relax for a minute, will you?”

The low hum of anxiety at the back of his mind is unnecessary, and he’s knows it. It’s a routine mission, and one of the safer ones to boot – Allura and Coran are out on a peaceful planet doing diplomat work, while the rest of them are on standby. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

All the same, he has a bad feeling about this.

“Nagisa’s right, Makoto. You’re going to wear a hole in the ground with all your pacing.”

Rin’s words dig into his skin, claw at his nerves. He grimaces.

“Look… I know it’ll be fine. Just let me worry, okay?”

Rin sighs dramatically – he’s always sighing dramatically. Makoto thinks he hears a hum from Haru’s general direction. Nagisa opens his mouth to say something almost certainly contradictory, but Rei cuts him off before he gets the chance.

“It’s okay, Makoto. I’m nervous too, to be honest.”

“But Rei-chan is always nervous!” Nagisa whines.

“I am _not!_ ” Rei’s voice is suddenly indignant where it had been understanding only seconds ago.

“Rei, your anxiety is practically a force of nature. Just accept it.” Rin is smirking, and Rei screeches wordlessly.

A smile tugs at the corner of Makoto’s mouth.

They’re right, they’re right, there’s nothing to be worried about. Allura and Coran are fine.

 _She’ll come back safe._ His heart glows at the thought—

And then the castle is shaken violently, and the alarms are buzzing, and Makoto feels like he’s been plunged in ice cold water.

“What the hell is that?”

The subsequent argument fades into the background – Makoto hears the word ‘Galra’ thrown around, but it doesn’t matter. The mission was supposed to be safe, nothing was supposed to go wrong, and he can’t breathe because this, this isn’t supposed to be happening—

“Makoto.”

Haru’s voice reaches him through the fog, and he starts.

“What do we do?” Haru asks.

 _Don’t panic. Take action,_ Makoto hears.

He takes a deep breath.

_Thank you, Haru._

“Everyone. Get to your lions. Let’s find out what’s attacking us.”

As if on cue, the castle shakes again. Makoto swallows his panic, locks it away. _Now is not the time_.

“Let’s go, now!”

They start running for the bridge as another wave of alarms echo through the castle walls.

 

* * *

 

_Makoto was jolted from his sleep by the sound of the alarm._

What’s going on…?

_This wasn’t his room. This wasn’t anywhere he knew. Where was he?_

_“Everybody up, Zarkon’s attacking!”_

_And with that, all of it came flooding back – the meteor, meeting Rin again, discovering the lion, careening through space and meeting Allura and Coran._

_The battle against an alien overlord bent on ruling the galaxy._

_Forming Voltron._

_Makoto shook his head._ This has to be a dream…

_“The castle’s about to be destroyed!” Allura’s voice over the intercom broke Makoto out of his thoughts. He’d thought they’d found safety, had the Galra already caught up to them…?_

_“Go, go, go! We need Voltron, now!"_

_Makoto slapped both hands to his cheeks. Enough wondering, enough confusion – answers would come later. For now, he needed to get suited up and find out what was happening._

_The paladin armour that now apparently belonged to him was still laying out on a side table, where he’d left it the night before. He started getting dressed, and glanced around the room to see if there were any weapons he could make use of. Makoto had never liked the thought of battles, but if the castle was in danger then he’d need to fight, and he was the only paladin without a bayard._

_“Hurry! We can’t survive much longer!” There was a near-undetectable note of panic in Allura’s voice. Makoto’s heart skipped a beat._ Forget the weapon. _He needed to be at the bridge five minutes ago._

 _Makoto grabbed his helmet and sprinted out the door._ Please, please, hold on…

_“Oh no! Allura is dead!” Makoto’s stomach lurched at Coran’s words. He pushed his legs to move faster, speed up, outrun the pit of dread that was growing in his stomach._

_And suddenly he’d arrived, and there was Coran on his knees, wailing dramatically into the intercom mic while Allura stood over him, eyebrow raised. Relief washed through Makoto’s chest as he realized they were okay, and the “attack” was nothing more than a drill. Makoto would have preferred almost any other horrible fate over failing his mission to save the universe on Day One._

Dream or reality, I have to do my best to protect them, _he vowed to himself before stepping forward._

 

* * *

 

“Allura, can you hear me?” Makoto tries his best to sound calm as the five paladins enter the bridge.

“Are… are you getting an answer that we’re not hearing?” Rei’s voice falters, and Makoto fights to still the increasingly wild beating of his heart.

“Maybe her radio is off…?” Nagisa offers.

Makoto breathes deeply. “I’ll keep trying. In the meantime, we should start defending the castle.” He watches as four pairs of eyes harden in determination, and they split off to their respective hangars.

He jumps into the chute and grips the handlebars of the slider tightly. With no one around, he feels safer dropping his mask. As long as he can keep the panic out of his voice, he doesn’t need to try so hard to appear like the calm leader he’s supposed to be.

(Of course, on the flip side, keeping up a facade is really the only thing holding him together at this point.)

He drops from the zipline into the scooter. _Why are you like this,_ half of him scolds. He shouldn’t be falling apart so easily; this is hardly the first time they’d ever been called to the ship’s defence.

 _You know exactly why,_ the other half of him retorts.

He groans.

After what feels like hours, Makoto is finally seated in his lion, rushing out the bay doors to meet the other paladins.

Instead, he meets chaos.

Makoto’s earpiece ignites with the sounds of his four companions reacting – a sharp intake of breath from Haru, swearing from Rin, an understated gasp from Nagisa, and from Rei, the question at the forefront of all of their minds—

“How… how did an _entire Galra warship_ get here without us noticing!?”

Single-pilot Galra fighter planes swarm like mosquitoes just beyond the castle’s defensive barrier, and in the distance the warship’s cannon is clearly charging another shot. They’re surrounded, they’re surrounded and there’s no way out, no way down to the planet to warn Allura and Coran. Makoto’s heart plummets into his stomach—

_…!_

—and then his brain finally catches up to his eyes. Makoto swallows hard; there isn’t time to panic, not when a Galra cannon is about to come ripping through their defenses at full blast.

“They’re lining up for another shot. Let’s block it,” Makoto commands.

_Let’s form Voltron._

(He doesn’t say that one out loud; he doesn’t need to anymore.)

The other paladins nod in agreement – Makoto can’t hear it through their radios, but he feels it. He feels their jaws set in determination, feels them pulling on the controls of their lions, and suddenly he’s not feeling them, he _is_ them. Five paladins all in sync, five lions soaring and weaving their familiar dance. They connect, and for a split second that lasts an eternity he feels their collective feelings; five sets of fear and love and determination, all indistinguishable from each other. And then he’s Makoto again, at the helm of Voltron, the universe’s greatest weapon. The universe’s last defender.

_One unit fighting with one goal._

Voltron barely has time to raise its shield and brace itself before the laser meets its mark.

 

* * *

 

_The hit sent them stumbling backwards, and Voltron landed square on its ass in one of the many rocky outcroppings dotting Arus’ surface. Above them, the glowing orb zoomed back to the gladiator’s staff with a menacing hum._

_“We’re doomed, aren’t we,” Rei lamented into the radio. “There’s no possible way for us to beat this thing.”_

_“Not with that attitude, Rei-chan!” Nagisa’s tone didn’t match his words though; Makoto could tell his attempt to cheer the group on was half-hearted at best. And who could blame him? The situation was dire – they were supposed to be the greatest defender of the universe, but they couldn’t even take down one Galra monster. How could they possibly even attempt to face Zarkon like this?_

_“There_ has _to be a way to beat this thing.”_

_“It’s probably hopeless, Rin.”_

_“Shut up, Haru! I’ll find a solution, just watch me!”_

_Makoto felt affection tugging at his heartstrings – Rin and Haru would be Rin and Haru even in a situation like this, bickering away._

_Crashing footsteps dragged him back to the present before he got a chance to get lost in thought. “Guys, move!” They took a lurching sidestep, barely dodging the orb as it whizzed by again. And then the gladiator’s fist connected with Makoto’s lion, somewhere in the middle of Voltron, and they went flying again._

_“Thanks for paying attention, Rin.” Rei’s voice was dripping with sarcasm._

_“What are you blaming me for? You’re a leg too, you know.”_

_“And Voltron needs two legs to walk, Rin.”_

_“Well then blame Haru for distracting me!”_

_“Don’t bring me into this.” Haru’s voice was punctuated with rare indignation._

_“Guys, guys… Come on, let’s not fight,” Nagisa pleaded._

_They were in a dangerous,_ hopeless _situation, and yet Makoto could only feel fondness for his friends, his teammates. Both the friends he’d known his entire life, and those he’d met more recently – Coran, and Allura._

_(His heart fluttered briefly – it had been doing that with increasing frequency lately. He did his best to ignore it.)_

_He couldn’t lose Allura. He couldn’t lose any of them. He couldn’t lose the universe.._

_“Guys. Calm down for a minute. Let’s think through this.” He couldn’t see them, but he felt their attention shift._ Good _. “There’s probably a pattern to his attack style. Rin, Rei, you two are good with this kind of stuff – can you watch? Haru and Nagisa. Let’s pull up the shield and buy them some time with a solid defense.”_

_Makoto could feel the gears shift in everyone’s attitude. With their newfound determination, they stood their ground._

_The gladiator was already approaching. Voltron raised its arms, and a shield formed between Haru and Nagisa’s lions._

_“Ready?”_

 

* * *

 

Voltron is pushed back by the laser cannon, but remains stable as the shot is reflected back towards the Galra army. It’s exhilarating; Makoto feels proud – feels the pride of his four teammates, all connected through Voltron.

The deflected laser hits its mark with pinpoint accuracy, and Voltron rushes forward as the Galra battleship’s cannon explodes in the distance.

“You’d think they’d stop attacking us like that by now. This is what… the fourth laser cannon of theirs we’ve destroyed like that?” Makoto can hear the wry grin behind Rin’s words.

“Maybe that’s why they only sent one battleship,” Haru offers. “These single-pilot fighters are a pain though. I’m pulling out the sword.”

“Go for it,” Makoto hums.

Voltron draws its massive sword out of seemingly nowhere and begins to cut a path through the swarming Galra fighters. It only takes minutes for it to become all too clear that this is not the correct strategy, however.

Rei groans into the radio. “This isn’t working. Every time we get one, four more take its place.”

“Like some kind of fucked-up Galra hydra,” Rin adds.

Makoto’s brow creases. “It might be easier if we split up, then.”

“They’ll be easier to beat if we have more mobility,” Haru agrees.

“Besides, if we split one of us can check on Coran and Allura!” Nagisa chirps.

Makoto’s heart skips a beat. In the heat of the moment, Allura had fallen out of the forefront of his mind. “We’ll split up. I’ll head to the surface to check on Allura and Coran; you four do your best up here to hold them off the castle!”

“That’s our fearless leader, taking responsibility for the team!” Something about Nagisa’s tone grates at Makoto’s ears – it’s too cheery, too _knowing_. Makoto does his best to ignore it.

“Let’s just get going.”

His heart feels the tiniest bit emptier after Voltron deconstructs, as it always does, but there’s no time to dwell on that. Right now, there’s someone he needs to protect.

The other four cover for him as Makoto’s lion turns towards the planet below.

“Allura! Coran! Can either of you hear me?”

His earpiece buzzes with chatter from the other four, but the two Alteans remain worryingly unresponsive. The panic he’d been dodging earlier begins to worm its way back into his heart.

This was supposed to be a safe mission to a peaceful planet – _what went wrong along the way?_

Technically, there’s no evidence that anything had gone wrong on Allura’s end, but Makoto can’t push the worry from his mind. For one thing, as the Black Paladin of Voltron, it’s his responsibility to ensure everyone’s safety – absolutely _everyone_ , and that includes the Alteans. He simply cannot allow any harm to come to them, not on his watch.

And for another thing…

(Makoto feels the blood rise to his cheeks, feels his ears start to burn.)

He _has_ to get to the surface as soon as possible.

 

* * *

 

_He should have been listening to Rolo – as the leader of Voltron, he needed to get his hand on as much information concerning Zarkon and his Empire as humanly possible. Besides which, he owed it to Rolo to hear the guy out, having come to his aid and all. Listening to his story was part of saving him, part of the mission. That’s what it mean to be a paladin of Voltron; you needed to help those in need and see it through to the end, you needed to collect information in order to be the best possible defense for the universe._

_Makoto knew all of this, and yet Rolo’s words rolled over him without ever finding purchase in his consciousness. He’d catch a fragment of a sentence here or there, but then he’d find his eyes wandering back to Allura. Firelight danced across her face, eyebrows knit together and lips pursed as she focused on Rolo’s story. Makoto should have been listening as well, but how could he when Allura’s hair was reflecting the deep orange and reds of the bonfire in much the same manner that it would have if they were on Earth watching the sun set?_

_He nearly shook his head to clear the image from his mind before remembering that he was supposed to be listening and needed to avoid any unprompted body language that might suggest otherwise. This… This was not good. He needed to focus on Rolo’s words._

_(He needed to not catch himself thinking of Allura so often.)_

_Rolo said something that might have been about Zarkon, and Allura’s eyes gleamed like starlight._

(Don’t look, don’t look at her,)

_Makoto swallowed. It was just a crush, a fleeting thing, it would pass in time._

_Someday he’d be able to think of anyone else._

 

* * *

 

The closer he gets to the surface, the more he can’t get her face out of his mind. Everything reminds Makoto of Allura – his lion parts the wispy clouds and he thinks of her hair, sunlight sparkles across a deep blue lake and he thinks of her eyes. On another day he might have tried to push the thoughts from his mind, but here and now, in the solitude of his lion, he’ll indulge himself, just a little bit.

(He has long since accepted that he’ll never be able to outrun his feelings, after all.)

His destination is a palace, and he can see it carved into the cliffs on the far edge of the lake as though it had formed naturally from the landscape itself. The scene before him was idyllic, and if Makoto didn’t know better he would not have believed that there was a battle going on above him in space. As he drew closer, however, details began to spring out at him – dark charcoal and purple ships parked around the vicinity of the palace, Galra uniforms pacing the walls in pairs. Makoto swears quietly under his breath. The Galra patrols don’t seem to be acting like they’d seen the black lion itself come descending from the skies, but it was too much to hope that they hadn’t seen his approach on such a clear day.

He pulls into a steep dive. If only there were a forest, or any kind of cover on this planet, but his best bet is to stick low to the ground and pray that the rolling hills will conceal his approach.

“Allura? Coran? Are you there?” Still no answer.

He sighs.

“Everyone, I’m approaching the palace. It's crawling with Galra.”

“What’s your plan?” Haru asks.

Makoto grimaces. “They probably saw me, so I’m just going to bust in as soon as possible.”

“Awe, you mean you're staging a heroic rescue mission without us?” Nagisa sounds dejected. Makoto chuckles.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind some backup if you guys can spare anyone. How’s the fight going up there?”

“They’re easy to beat, but they just keep coming,” Rin says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this was meant to be a distraction.”

Makoto nods. “They must have known we’d be here and arranged a surprise attack. Nagisa, can you come down here?”

“All right!!”

“Turn on your cloaking device and find somewhere nearby the palace to wait for my signal. I’m almost there.”

“Sound g—” Nagisa’s reply is suddenly cut off.

“Nagisa?”

Silence.

“Haru? Rin? Rei?”

More silence.

And then—

“…Makoto? Is that you?”

Joyous relief washes over Makoto, and he’s not sure if he wants to laugh or cry.

“Allura…!”

“I’ve been trying to contact you. The Galra launched a surprise attack on our meeting.”

“We know. They’ve been attacking the castle. We’ve been trying to contact you too… I think they must have put up some kind of communications barrier around the palace, because I just lost contact with everyone else.”

“Wait, where are you right now?”

Makoto smiles. “I’m almost at the palace. Nagisa is on his way as well, so we’ll have backup soon.” And then, almost as an afterthought, he adds, “Did they see me approaching?”

“I don’t think so, but they’re on high alert anyways, so be careful.”

“Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll be there soon. Where are you?”

“We’re on our way to the front gates.”

“W-what?”

“I’ll see you very soon, Makoto.” He hears the gentle smile in her voice, and his stomach does backflips.

(He has long since accepted that they will never be together, but _God_ sometimes he just wishes…)

“Allura, what’s going on?”

There’s no response, but he thinks he hears fighting sounds through the radio.

Of course, Allura would never sit still and just wait to be rescued. Makoto shakes his head fondly as he lands the black lion behind the last decently sized hill outside the palace.

“Allura… I’m almost there. I’ll meet you by the front gate.”

He jumps out of the lion, ready to start running the second he lands.

“See you there, Makoto.”

His feet feel as light as his heart, and he takes off in the direction of the palace.

 

* * *

 

_“Someone has to be there to lead these people out.”_

_Makoto could hardly believe his ears. “You’re coming down?! But that thing will spot you and blow your pod to pieces!”_

Stay in the castle, Allura, _he wanted to say,_ stay safe.

 _“Let me worry about that,” she said, and Makoto’s whole world felt like it had inverted –_ no, no let _me_ worry about it, Allura, please, stay up there, let me protect you—

_But no, that wasn’t right. Allura would never stay still, she’d never just wait and let herself be protected. Ten thousand years had been enough waiting for a lifetime, and because of it her passion for fighting back against the Galra Empire had become an unstoppable force. And here they were at the Balmera, on their first real mission – there was no way she would sit back and not at least try to help somehow._

_“Alright. We’ll focus on distracting the creature while you get down here.”_

_“Thank you for understanding, Makoto.”_

_His ears burned in shame – he hated that she was about to do something incredibly risky, and he hated himself for wanting to stop her when she’d never been his to protect, and never would be._

_“Good luck.”_

_He took a deep breath, pushed all extraneous thoughts from his mind._

_(Sometimes he felt like all he did these days way push out thoughts of Allura.)_

_“Okay team… Let’s go provoke and evade.”_

_The creature was terrifying, but lucky for them it was easily distractible. Makoto dodged a laser and watched Allura’s pod descend at a reckless speed into a mineshaft. The monster hadn’t seemed to have noticed her, and he breathed a sigh of relief._

_Soon enough, Makoto found himself too focused on their own battle to think much of anything other than keeping away from the endless stream of deathly lasers dancing through the sky. He was dimly aware of Allura speaking to the Balmerans over the radio, but he couldn’t spare any attention for parsing her words. The fight – if ‘provoke and evade’ tactics could even be considered as such – seemed to last for eons. Too much time was passing, or maybe they were so caught up in the moment it only felt that way? Makoto could hardly be sure; his universe had narrowed to include only the beast and his four companions._

_Finally, Rei spoke up. “Are you guys evacuated yet? Every hit is weakening the Balmera, we can’t keep fighting it like this.”_

_Ice gripped at Makoto’s heart – Rei was correct, half the monster’s lasers were tearing into the Balmera’s surface. He had barely even noticed…_

_“The Balmerans are trapped! Just keep distracting that beast.” Coran’s voice held an edge of panic._

_“Do you want us to distract it by dying?” Rin growled, “because that’s what’s going to happen.”_

_“Listen,” Makoto interrupted, “I know I said distracting it would be enough but… we might need to beat it.”_

_Holding an urgent evacuation while under attack was simply not a possibility. They had no other choice._

_And so the next phase of their fight began – a_ real _battle this time, as Voltron, complete with weapons. Once again, Makoto quickly found himself altogether too caught up in the fight to spare a thought for what Allura might be up to – until, that is, they found themselves in the vicinity of the castle._

_It was the glowing that had caught his attention; there was far too much light being emitted from the castle, and from the Balmera itself as well. Makoto noticed a figure standing below the castle, wreathed in a beam of pure energy._

What…?

_And then he remembered Coran’s tale of the ceremony Alteans used to perform to give back energy to the Balmera in return for their crystals._

She can’t have…

_Time stopped for Makoto._

But she must have. _Who else, after all? Who else but Allura would go so far as to perform a ceremony that had been lost for thousands upon thousands of years while they were in the middle of being attacked? A ceremony that required a lot of energy, from what Makoto understood, and God only knew how much more energy was required to heal an entire planet. Who else would put their own life on the line like this?_

_Admiration flared in his heart; Makoto could only aspire to be as strong-willed as Allura was. She was so caring, so graceful, and so passionate about taking care of others. She was amazing. She was perfect._

_And Makoto knew, in that split second, that he would always be in love with her._

 

* * *

 

As Makoto crests the hill, the Galra soldiers finally notice his approach and begin to shoot. He dodges the shots with ease; it doesn’t feel hard enough, somehow… It feels as if there should be more blasters pointed in his direction. Maybe it’s the juxtaposition against the space battle he’d just left behind, seeing as there are significantly fewer Galra here on the ground.

Some of the sentries shooting at him suddenly turn and disappear into the palace. Makoto hears shouting, although he can’t make out the words.

_Maybe it feels too easy because something is pulling the troops inside._

Makoto grins. There’s only one thing that could be more important for the Galra to deal with than an attacker in this moment, and he thinks he knows what it is. _Who_ it is.

Seconds later, exactly as expected, Allura bursts through the gates with Coran right behind her. She dodges blaster shots with all the grace of a true royal, and when a Galra sentry jumps down to intercept her, she throws him aside with the ease of a trained warrior.

Makoto feels himself falling in love for the hundredth time.

He rushes forward to meet up with the Alteans as they flee from the palace. Allura catches his eye and smiles. “You made it.”

Makoto almost laughs. “You mean, _you_ made it. What happened, anyways?”

Coran dodges a blaster shot. “It was a trap. The Galra had arrived ahead of time and kidnapped the Daenesian royal family. We still don’t know where they are.”

“We need to get back to the castle to regroup,” Allura adds, “then we’ll work on a rescue plan.”

“Of course,” Makoto nods in agreement. “Let’s get to safety first though.” They’re still being shot at, and Galra soldiers are running after them – they’re not out of the frying pan just yet. “My lion is just over the next hill here. And Nagisa is on his way.”

As if on cue, a familiar voice comes through the radio.

“Makoto? Are you there?”

“Nagisa! You made it!” Makoto grins. “I’ve got Allura and Coran with me. Where are you?”

Nagisa cheers into the radio at the news. “I’m on my way towards the front of the palace.”

“Perfect, that means we’re heading towards you. We’ll meet you at my lion, wait for us there!”

Makoto feels like he’s floating. Never mind the fact that they yet to make it back to the lions with Galra quickly catching up to them, or the fact that once they make it off the ground they’ll have even more Galra to contend with before returning to the castle, and then a full rescue mission after all of that; Allura is unharmed and soon they’ll be on their way out of here. That’s all that matters.

The black lion is waiting exactly where Makoto left it, and he picks up speed as soon as he sees it.

“Come on!”

They’re still yards away from the lion when the Galra soldiers chasing them crest the hill and start shooting. Makoto prepares to dodge, but the shots never make it close – suddenly, the green lion is materializing mid-swoop as Nagisa drops the cloaking and tanks the hits.

“Surprise!”

Makoto doesn’t need to see Nagisa to know he’s sporting his trademark cheeky grin, and he laughs. “Nice timing, Nagisa!”

“Of course!” comes the reply as the green lion plunges forward, sending the Galra soldiers on the hill scattering in fear. Once they’re all out of sight, Nagisa's lion lands beside its larger twin, and its pilot jumps out to meet them.

“Mako-chan! You found them!”

Makoto grins. “More like they found me. I barely had to do anything.”

“So we head back to the castle, then?”

Allura nods. “They’ll be back with reinforcements any minute now, and we’ve got a rescue mission to plan. Nagisa, take Coran. I’ll ride with Makoto. We’ll meet back at the castle.”

“Yessir!” Nagisa grins slyly, and Makoto immediately averts his gaze to avoid any eye contact with the green paladin; he just _knows_ Nagisa is going to give him that knowing look again. He can already feel the tips of his ears burning.

“Okay, l-lets go!” Makoto winces as he trips over his own words. Could he be any more obvious right now, honestly?

They each head for their respective lions and climb in. Makoto sinks into the pilot’s seat, and Allura stands behind him and leans on the back of the chair.

“Lead the way, Nagisa!” she commands.

“Off I go!” comes his reply, and Makoto watches the green lion launch itself into the sky.

“Ready?” Makoto looks up, and is met with Allura looking straight down at him, a gentle smile tugging at her lips.

Briefly, Makoto forgets how to breathe.

“Thank you for coming to save me,” she says, so softly he wonders if he imagined the words.

And then she leans forward, before he has a chance to even try to process what’s happening, and plants a kiss on his forehead.

(Briefly, Makoto’s heart forgets how to beat.)

He physically feels the blood rushing to his cheeks, and opens his mouth to say something, anything, but all he can manage are some vague, strangled, noises. Allura just looks down at him fondly – _how can she possibly be calm right now???_ – and gestures to the controls.

“We should catch up to the others.”

Makoto takes a deep breath. He nods in agreement, grabs the controls and pulls the black lion into the sky.

(A giant grin spreads across his face. He does nothing to stop it.)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! if you have any questions or comments, i'd love to hear from you - comment below, or drop by my writing blog @[charmingstrangeness](charmingstrangeness.tumblr.com)
> 
> title is from [I Do Adore](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mindygledhill/idoadore.html) by Mindy Gledhill
> 
> ADDENDUM: the lovely Einzel drew [this glorious fanart of the bonfire scene](http://die-einzelganger.tumblr.com/post/156130812808/firelight-danced-across-her-face-eyebrows-knit) please go take a look it's beautiful <33333
> 
> * * *
> 
> i had to put a little thought into this to make sure i was writing "free! in space" and not "voltron 2.0: nameswap edition" so here are some backstory headcanons i've got (which, for the record, i would be So Overjoyed to talk more about so feel free to comment/message me on tumblr about these as well!)
> 
>   * the paladin colours i picked are makoto = black, haru = red, rin = blue, rei = yellow and nagisa = green (in case you missed the hints). i have Reasons for this but honestly arguments could be made for other combinations so hit me with your ideas on this i wanna know!! 
>   * makoto, haru, rin and nagisa are all childhood friends who wanted to be pilots. rin left for a branch of the academy in another country (or another flight school if that's not a Thing) in their middle school years and the other three didn't see him again until they found the lion on earth 
>   * rei was nagisa's roommate at the academy in their high school years, and inevitably became part of the squad because nagisa is just powerful like that 
>   * unlike voltron canon, none of the paladins were captured by the galra; rin came back home to investigate the academy after news of the kerberos mission failing because he was just incredibly skeptical 
>   * on the night of the 'meteor', the five of them end up together because nagisa happened to be out monitoring for aliens with rei, and rin was out scouting the academy. the pod was collected by academy officials before any of them made it there, but they did find each other and started swapping notes about the mysterious energy in the area 
> 

> 
> anyways if you read this far you're my fave & again pls feel free to come chat about the fic or the AU or just free! or voltron in general~ [thumbs up emoji]x5


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